Valve actuating mechanism



March 18, 1958 C. W. ZIES VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 11, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Carl M Z/es fax/M 452m ATTO/ENiXS March 18, 1958 c. W. ZIES 2,827,078

VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 11, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTQR. Car/ 14/ 2/21? United States Patent VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISM Carl W. Zies, Lakewood, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to International Basic Economy Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 11, 1952, Serial No. 308,965

1 Claim. (Cl. 137-633) The invention relates to novel and improved valve mechanism for flow control and equal distribution of granular or sludge-like material. One useful embodiment of the invention controls the flow movement of a stream of moist, drained seed or nut meats from which the oil has just been extracted by a solvent extraction process.

An object of the invention is to provide intermittently movable control valve means at the discharge end of a material conveyor for causing flow of said material alternately through each of two outlets, in equal amounts to each outlet.

'A further object is to provide control means such as defined in the last preceding paragraph wherein positive drive mechanism is provided for effecting intermittent movement of the control means.

A further object is to provide control valve means such as defined in the last two preceding paragraphs, in combination with yieldable lost motion means in the driving mechanism to protect it from damage from unexpected jamming of the control valve by obstructions in the stream of material.

Further objects include the provision of control valve means such as defined in the last three paragraphs and characterized by low first cost, low operating cost, positive operation, ability to operate with sticky material, and ability to distribute equal amounts to each of several outlets.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent'from a study of the following description of one embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic View of some of the main operating elements of a solvent extraction apparatus embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view, somewhat enlarged, showing in greater detail a portion of the apparatus of Fig. 1.

Figs. 3, 4, and are sectional views, taken respectively on the lines 3-3, 4-4, and 5-5 of Fig. 2, and Figs. 3 and 4 are somewhat enlarged.

Figs. 6 and 7 are sectional views, somewhat enlarged, taken on the lines 6-6 and 7-7 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the shock absorbing cylinder.

Referring first to Fig. 1, there is shown a solvent extraction unit for the extraction of oil or other liquid from materials bearing the same. One such unit is more fully described in a co-pending application of Raymond T. Anderson, Serial No. 188,472, filed October 4, 1950, for Solvent Extraction Process and Apparatus. Such Anderson application does not disclose the present novel improvement, but many of the main operating elements of the structure are otherwise similar. For convenience a brief description is presented herewith, so that the advantages of the present invention will be better understood.

Still referring to Fig. l, I show a vertical elevational Patented Mar. 18, 1958 "ice view, somewhat schematically, of the main operating elements of a solvent extraction unit, refinements of mechanical detail being omitted since not necessary for an understanding of the operation. The apparatus includes an extraction tower 26 of cylindrical character. Solvent liquid is introduced at the bottom, through pipe 21, and withdrawn near the top, through pipe 22, thereby establishing a liquid level at broken line 23. Oil bearing material is introduced at the top of tower 20, and, being normally heavy enough to sink slowly, it proceeds downwardly to the tower bottom. Means (not shown) is provided within the tower to retard the downward travel of the material and afford time for extraction of the oil by means of the solvent liquid. It is obvious, therefore, that the liquid following out at pipe 22 is a mixture of solvent and oil in mutual solution. They are later separated by distillation or otherwise, and the solvent is returned to the tower.

The tower 20 is in communication at its bottom, by means not shown, with two vertical members 24 and 25 of an elevator housing, these members being joined at top and bottom by two horizontal members 26 and 27, so as to form a complete, endless, leak-proof passage within which an endless conveyor travels, in the present instance clockwise. The solid material is transferred, by screw conveyor or other means not shown, from the bottom of tower 20 into the member 27, whence it is carried by the conveyor upward through the elevator member 24, across through member 26, finally being discharged into hopper 28. The empty conveyor, often of continuous bucket chain type, returns downwardly through member 25.

Since the tower 21 is in liquid communication with the elevator, a liquid level will be established in members 24 and 25 at a level approximately the same as in the tower, although varying slightly, depending on factors such as conveyor movement. As the material is carried above the liquid level in member 24 it begins to drain by gravity, for example, through perforations in the buckets. Additional drainage means may be provided, often in the horizontal travel of the material in member 26 or adjacent thereto, so that the material delivered to hopper 28 is usually a sticky slndgy mass.

The hopper 28 is adapted to deliver the material to a series of driers, here shown at 26a, 25b, 27a, 27b, 28a, 28b, etc. In these driers the material is tumbled, in the presence of heat, to drive off the volatile vapors, the material eventually issuing from the last drier in each tandem series in the form of dried meal.

For greater drying efliciency it is desirable to have at least two banks of driers, so as to keep up with the mate- I rial-delivery capacity of the rest of the unit, one such bank being obviously the driers 26a, 27a, 28a, etc., and the other bank being 26b, 27b, 28b, etc. Means must therefore be provided for distributing the hopper discharge alternately to each bank in any desired propor-. tion, usually in about equal amounts. Previously available distribution means were subject to a number of disadvantages, for the sticky material often choked up the mechanism and effected undesirable stoppages. and mechanisms which were relatively effective were expensive, complicated, .and not at all reliable over extended periods.

The distribution mechanism now to be described has been found to be economical, simple and positive in operation, and fully effective through any desired period of continuous operation. It is indicated by the bracket 29 in .Fig. 1, and is shown in full detail in Figs. 2 to 8.

At the discharge end of the hopper 28 is a bifurcated fitting indicated by the bracket 29. The housing portion 30 defines an inlet chamber, and housing portions 31 and 32 a pair of outlet chambers, the construction being quite similar to that of a pair of trousers. At the crotch of the 35, temporarily, retains its position.

initial point 45a of the cam trackrise rotates tocontact with roller 47, link 46 and cylinder 5.0 will'begin to be a "shape adequate to close the opening either to leg 31 or leg 32. In' the present instance .the plate 35 is rectangular, as are chamber and said,openings"to the legs.' The plate 'is swung back and forth, as 'will' appear, by means of a crank .36 keyed to the outer end of shaft 33 by a key 37. I Pivotally attached tocrank 36 is a connecting rod 38 adapted to'suitably reciprocate to produce crank movement as desired. The disposition of shaft 33, bushing or hearing 34, and crank 36 is well shownin Fig. 4. V

a The power source for operation of plate 35comprises a motor and gear reduction assembly 40 carried on a shelf 41 attached to leg 31 by bracket arms 42, '43. 'Attached' to the motor shaft 44 is a cam 45 rotatable within a box-type link 46 which has rollers 47 and '48 at its respectively opposed, ends, as Well shown in Fig. 5. The link arms are slotted as at 49 (-Fig. 2) to permit reciprocation of the link when the cam rise alternately contacts rollers 47 and 48. Attached to link 46 is a cylinder 50 into which the end of connecting rod 38 extends, the rod having a piston-like block 51 attached to it within the cylinder (-Fig. 8;) The piston 51 'is disposed between helical compression springs 52, 53 which are balanced as to biasing force and permit a certain amount of piston travel under variations of resistance encountered in theoperation ofplate 35.

The operation of the material distributing apparatus just described is as follows. 7

,Assuming the parts to be in the. position shownin Fig.

2, the'cam rise 54' is in; contact with roller '48, and' cylinder 50 is in its extreme right position. Crank arm 36 has been swung counterclockwise to the right, rotating 7 jshaft33 and swinging plate 35 to thelefLor dotted line position. Material deliveredfromthehopper to chama respective passages, said power application means -com-' material therethrough.

4 i i a possible to .have some obstruction block plate 35, whereupon the cam can continue to rotate and the springs 52, 53 will yield sufiiciently to permit a complete cam rotation without any portion of the drawing mechanism being damaged.

The action of my material distributing mechanism is responsive to a positive drive, which readily overcomes the'resistan'ce of passage of sticky material which may vary considerably in viscosity. As can readily be seen,

the whole assembly can-be constructed, assembled, op-' prehends liquids, sludges, comminuted or granular solids,

or other material capable of traveling in a stream, since my invention is adapted for .use' with all such material. The -term,re,ceptacle means any enclosure capable of receiving and retaining. material, not necessarily closed on all sides; The term port means any opening in a wall of said receptaclecapable of permittingfiow of said What I claim is: Power application means for operating a swinging valve plate for alternately controlling one of two outlets 'to' of said cam, said connecting rod having an end extending into said cylinder and havingabutment means thereon, and a pair of springs in said :cylinder, one on each side 10f said abutment means and biasing said abutment means away from its :respective .cylinder end, whereby resucceeding elements responsive thereto, so that the plate As soon as the drawn to the left (Figs. 2 and 8.) The first increments of cylinder motion compresses spring 53 and ,places spring 52 under tension. As 'soon as these compression and tension forces (which'are efiective in the same direction on' piston- '51) become strong enough to overcome .the inertia and Work-resisting :forcestending to retain plate 35 on the left hand side, it snaps over to the right hand side and the material begins to descend in 'leg3 1; This s status .is maintained until cam location 45a rotates to contact with roller48, at which time the above described cycle is initiated to eventualy snap plate 35 back to the left-sideagain.

The length of'each cycle obviously depends on therate I 3 of cam rotation, and maybe varied to suit.

.If the cylinder 50 is made long :enough,.it is obviously tation of said 'cam causes'reciprocation'of said cylinder first in. one directionandithenin the other direction so as to transmit cushioned driving motion to said connecting rod,-,and thence tosaid crankarm, said cam having 'acontinuousyportion of .its track, at least degrees in peripheral extent, .concentric with its centerof rotation.

References-Cited infthe file of this patent V UNITED sTA'rEs PAT-ENrs 685,335 France ;e ,;July 9,1930 

